Sunday, November 29, 2015

Incredible Comeback Lifts Bears Over ASU

Cal Rallies From 21 Points Down To Win 48-46 In Regular Season Finale

BERKELEY, California  At several key points throughout the 2015 season, Cal football coach Sonny Dykes has spoken of how proud he is of the resillience shown by his team no matter the result or the circumstance.

After watching the Bears rally from 21 points down for the first time since 2007, it wasn't hard to imagine that same feeling of immense pride running through Cal's head coach in the immediate aftermath of his team's 48-46 victory over Arizona State in Saturday's regular season finale.

A wild third quarter put the Bears back in the game and they finished the comeback in the fourth as a
26-yard field goal by Matt Anderson with time expiring carried Cal to its seventh win of the season on a cold night turned joyous with celebration in Berkeley. With the win, Cal improved to 7-5 overall, 4-5 in the Pac-12 and the Bears finished the season with a 5-1 home record that is their best since 2008.

Jared Goff had yet another incredible performance under the lights, completing 30-of-51 passes for a school-record 542 yards and five touchdowns while also becoming the ninth Pac-12 quarterback to eclipse 4,000 yards in a single season. Bryce Treggs was the main beneficiary, hauling in five passes for a career-high 147 yards and a touchdown while Tre Watson led the rushing attack with 94 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries.

Trailing by one with 2:29 to play, Cal got the ball at its own 22 with one final chance to complete its biggest comeback since rallying from 21 points down to beat Air Force in the 2007 Armed Forces Bowl. The drive started in earnest with a 15-yard pass to Stephen Anderson that got the Bears to their own 42, but a spinning, juking, scrambling effort by Goff on the next play resulted in a 17-yard completion to Chad Hansen that got Cal to the ASU 41 and nearly in field goal range.

After two runs gained six yards, Goff connected with Treggs for a 13-yard pass that put Cal in perfect position. Two rushes by Watson put the Bears on the 9-yard line and Anderson left no doubt, converting his 10th straight field goal and 16th on the year to give the Bears the win.

"As I was walking up after the game, I was thinking a little bit about what (the seniors) have been through," Dykes said. "I thought this was really the perfect way to end the season because what these guys had to do was they had to have was guts. Through all the things that they've been through, they had guts today and I think it showed. Guts is a hard thing to have, a lot of people don't have it, and they showed that they had it tonight. I was really, really proud of them for hanging in there and believing and continuing to fight."

Cal took its first lead of the game with 9:13 left to play, pulling in front when Goff found Khalfani Muhammad open on a wheel route for a 58-yard touchdown to make the score 37-36 Bears. The two-point conversion failed, and Arizona State (6-6, 4-5) pulled back in front on its next possession when Zane Gonzalez made a 22-yard kick for his sixth field goal of the game to put the Sun Devils back in front 39-37 with 7:43 to play.

Goff and the Bears weren't nearly finished. This time, he found Darius Powe along the left sideline and his senior receiver did the rest, bolting free for a 49-yard touchdown to put Cal ahead by four. Goff ran the 2-point conversion in himself this time to make it 45-39 with 6:05 left to play. True to the see-saw nature of the game, Arizona State was ready with a counter-punch though, and the Sun Devils drove 76 yards in nine plays and tied the score on a 4-yard touchdown pass from Mike Bercovici to Raymond Epps. The point-after put ASU back in front and made it 46-45 with 2:35 left to play.

Arizona State built a 17-point lead by halftime thanks to the pass-happy duo of quarterback Mike Bercovici and receiver Devin Lucien. A muffed punt gave the Sun Devils the ball back on the Cal 10-yard line and the duo connected for a 9-yard touchdown, then they combined for touchdowns of 3 and 36 yards to make it 24-3. Cal cut the deficit midway through the second quarter on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Goff to Treggs, but Gonzalez pushed the lead back to 17 with a 45-yard field goal that made it 27-10 with 3:31 left in the half.

Goff continued his season-long revision of the Cal record book, this time breaking his own mark for passing yards in a single season when he found Maurice Harris for a 12-yard gain early in the third quarter. The record wasn't the only notable point in the drive, as Tre Watson capped a six-play, 94-yard drive with a 5-yard touchdown run that made the score 27-17 with 11:04 left in the quarter. Goff finished the game with 4,252 career yards, breaking his mark of 3,973 set last year. His touchdown pass to Muhammad also broke his own record for touchdown passes in a single season (previously 35), and he finished the night with 37.

Arizona State responded with a 24-yard field goal by Gonzalez to make it 30-17, but a 16-yard touchdown from Goff to Chad Hansen (Hansen's first career TD) on Cal's next drive made it a one-possession game and left the Bears down 30-24 with 6:36 left in the third quarter. Another Gonzalez field goal, this time from 31 yards, made it 33-24 ASU with 4:41 left in the period.

The back and forth continued, with Goff lofting a pass into one-on-one coverage that Harris pulled down for a 9-yard touchdown pass to make it 33-31 ASU with 1:31 left in the third quarter. Yet another Gonzalez field goal came from 34 yards out and extended the Sun Devils' advantage to 36-31 with 9:55 remaining.

"It was a culmination of everyone coming together and working hard," Goff said. "The best thing about it is no one ever doubted anyone. That team in there is (full of) high character guys that really don't quit and don't stop. The defense kept stopping them and wouldn't let them score, they kept kicking field goals, we kept scoring and it kept going and going and going. I'm just so proud of my teammates and proud to be on this team."

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